New year will bring higher taxes for Bosse Field renovations

At 102-years-old, historic Bosse Field is the third-oldest baseball park still in regular use for professional baseball. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., which owns and maintains the aging ballpark, will impose an increase in the 2018 Vanderburgh County property taxes to create stable funding for dire repairs.
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EVANSVILLE--Vanderburgh County property owners will see an increase in their tax bills next year to cover the costs of renovating historic Bosse Field.

The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., which owns the ball park, will levy the tax. It amounts to $5 for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

“We are trying to find a stable funding source to make repairs,” said EVSC Superintendent David Smith. “We don’t want to be the one that allows it to deteriorate to be a nonfunctioning building.”

Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke tried to stop the school corp. from imposing the tax by offering them $1 million of city money in August to fund the repairs. He withdrew the offer in October, saying it was not popular among city council members.

The tax will raise around $300,000 a year. Based on rough estimates, Smith said essential renovations may cost $1.5 million.

“The roof’s condition is deteriorating, the lights are on borrowed time, the electrical system is 60 years old,” Smith said. “We’ve been fortunate nothing has happened yet.”

The park’s last major renovation was in 1958.

The EVSC formed a group to plan and oversee the coming renovations, called the Bosse Field Historical Society. It comprises three EVSC board members, two EVSC employees, a county official and a Vanderburgh County citizen.

The group met for the first time in November. They plan to hire a company to inspect the stadium and estimate the cost of upgrading its various systems.

“We’re hoping to have a report on the needs done by early 2018, because the current electrical system, lights and roof, those things all need some pretty quick attention,” said Mike Duckworth, a Bosse Field Historical Society member. “We’re dealing with electrical components put in in the 1950s. If something goes wrong, there are no replacement parts.”

Currently, the stadium is maintained by the EVSC maintenance staff, which handles all the school corporation's buildings.

“We don’t have a person appointed to Bosse Field,” said Daryl Angermeier, the EVSC chief facilities officer. “As calls come in we put in work orders and have someone go out and fix it.”

This year, the school corporation spent around $50,000 in ballpark maintenance.

The EVSC has owned Bosse Field since the park opened in 1915. The school board provided a large portion of the money to build the stadium.

At that time, the ball park was in the heart of city and surrounded by schools, which all regularly used the field.

These days, the park is principally used by the Evansville Otters, which has rented the facility since 1995.

High school baseball teams occasionally play at Bosse Field, however the school corporation’s use for the ballpark has decreased substantially.

Smith said he would like to see a new owner take Bosse Field from the school corp.

“Our business is educating kids, not owning historic ball parks,” he said. “We’ve tried a number of times to give it away – in a very sincere manner – and been told thanks but no thanks. I don’t know of any entity that has the capitol to invest in it.”

Smith hopes that there may be renewed interest in the ballpark after the Bosse Field Historical Society completes the renovations.

In the meantime, the school corp. will continue to maintain the historic structure.

“We have no purpose for it any longer, and haven’t for a long time,” Smith said. “But we still own it and we are still responsible for it.”

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The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., which owns and maintains the 102-year-old historic Bosse Field, will impose an increase in the 2018 Vanderburgh County property taxes to create stable funding for repairs to the stadium. The tax amounts to $5 for every $100,000 of assessed property value.
(Photo: SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS)

Buy Photo

At 102-years-old, historic Bosse Field is the third-oldest baseball park still in regular use for professional baseball. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., which owns and maintains the aging ballpark, will impose an increase in the 2018 Vanderburgh County property taxes to create stable funding for dire repairs.
(Photo: SAM OWENS/ COURIER & PRESS)